Hello from camp world!!

I'm still alive! I haven't written in awhile, I know. I haven't talked to anyone in awhile, I know. I'm in my camp world and it's really hard to participate in two worlds at once!

We are now in the final week of second session. It has gone by so quickly! The fam is doing great, I just love having everyone down here at once. I'm with a relative on almost every activity, a nice treat since we all live so far away!

We had our 4th of July Jamboree, which is always great fun! Everyone was dressed in lots of red, white, and blue. I bought ribbons, glitter stickers, and USA beads just for the day! And of course Mama sent great packages with a 4th of July towel and decorations! Clarissa woke us up over the PA singing the Star Spangled Banner...an original rendition. And Nick gets a big kick out of waking the kids up with loud fireworks in the morning that sound like bombs going off because they echo through camp! Those who have been here for years know what to expect...but you never really get used to waking up to that sound! That night we had the dance and then Nick and others put on a big fireworks show for everyone over the tennis courts...I love the 4th at camp!

Other highlights would include...

1) Turtle soup night! Whenever Bud catches a turtle on the river we get to have turtle soup. It was a nice chilly night and it is so delicious. It is just like chicken noodle with vegetables, noodles, and turtle and it's usually pretty spicy!

2) Clarissa's party! Katie and I planned a party for Clarissa to celebrate her wedding. We had a whole night of stations that included her favorite things as well as things she hates...things such as: 4th of July, Sweet Potato Queens, her dog, vomit, Victoria Secret, winter, Boston, her family, and our big surprise of Jason (her fiance...working in DC this summer) flew in to surprise her. She had figured out he was coming that day...but the rest of the staff was surprised because we didn't tell anyone except Clarissa's parents and Nick that Jason would be in town. It turned out to be a lot of fun :)

3) Our K-Bridge float. Katie Berry and I canoed K-Bridge on our day off on Sunday. It is a 13 mile canoe float that starts close to camp and ends at K-Bridge in Anapolis, MO. We did it to make sure it was clear and passable for the campers to canoe. It usually takes 6-7 hours, but we made it in 4 hours! We got on the water at 730am and it was cloudy with an occasional down pour and pretty consistent rain sprinkles through the whole trip...but it was actually a lot of fun! We were dying laughing at the humor of our situation when an hour into our "6 hour float" we were canoeing through a down pour, soaking wet, with 5 hours to go! But the rain lightened up and even stopped for awhile. We packed a little lunch and our only stop was to sit and eat for about 20 minutes. It's amazing the time you cut out when you don't have 10 boats, when you don't stop to swim every hour, when you don't cook your lunch over a fire, and when you don't stop to explore the cave in the bluff along the way. Those are all things we do with the campers. Anyway...we both love the trip and had a lot of fun together!

4) My parents and my brother, Drew are coming to STL this weekend when they pick up Kelly from camp! Yay, I'm excited to see them!


Things that weren't so great:

I drove into St. Louis on Sunday night, after my 13 mile canoe float, so that I could go to Scott AFB on Monday morning to get a special passport needed for my Visa for Italy. (Which was annoying in itself that I have to go to an Air Force Base to get this special Visa) And when I called the AFB in the morning I was informed that the website needed to fill out the application was down that morning and they weren't sure when it would be back up and working. She was really sorry, but there was nothing I could do when the website is down and it wouldn't be worth me driving the 45 minutes out to the base if it wasn't working. I did mention that I had already driven 2 hours to come into St. Louis to do this today...but that didn't make a difference! I then ranted to Taylor about his stupid job and he calmly and rationally reminds me that at least he has a job and I shouldn't be complaining. And he goes on to welcome me to the military and says this is just the beginning of many, many more frustrations when dealing with the government. He then proceeds into classic Taylor political talk that I won't go into...but when the government runs your life (and by runs your life I mean your job and your healthcare), you'll think twice about how much responsibility you really want to hand over to them! Anyway, needless to say all I got done out of the trip to STL was a nice visit with Aunt Joyce and Uncle David, a nice nights sleep in my cousin's comfy memory foam bed, 3 loads of laundry, and a delicious lunch at PF Changs. I mean it wasn't a bad day at all, but just didn't get the one thing done I really needed...just lots of bonuses! And I checked the website today...don't worry...it's up and running fine, of course. Welcome to the military!

Alright...it's about 1015 here and I have a 4 period canoe float in the morning and a cookout for lunch with about half of my CIT's tomorrow...then the pool and a creek hike in the afternoon. Busy, busy day! Sorry I don't have any pictures, I can't upload them on the internet here...they'll have to wait til later.

Oh...Taylor and I are going to finally get to go on a honeymoon! We're going to the Dominican Republic in October...in between the UT football games. Yes, really, it is planned in between Saturdays.

Goodnight and GO VOLS!